Asus XT8 Suddenly Slow speeds on all firmware

[ThatGuyinNC]

Hi all,

Have been researching this issue for over a week now, as of last friday July 16th, my Asus ZenWifi XT8 system (1 XT8 router, 3 XT8 nodes, wireless backhaul) went from the web GUI stating 900/900 on average down to 450/450. I have reverted back to previous versions of the firmware as this has helped in the past and yet when I do this now, no change. I have QoS, Traffic monitoring, and all possible bandwidth stealers off. I have spoken with my ISP (1GB Fiber connection), they have have come up and connected directly to the Fiber ethernet connection and continuously pull 850-900 down and 800-950 up when connected via the PPoE on the ethernet port via ethernet. As soon as I connect the Asus XT8 router in front of the laptop the speeds drop by half! I have ensured that the WAN is configured correctly with the PPoE connection and had verified with the ISP. I have contacted Asus and they still state they are looking into the issue, but I don't have great faith in that route. I have asked them if I could check if NAT Acceleration had been disabled or if there was some hidden bandwidth limiter on that I can't see with the Web GUI. I have tried multiple configuration changes to the wireless professional settings, I have done complete rebuilds of the system after factor restores, and no matter what I am stuck with roughly half of my speed I was getting prior to July 16th. I have included some screenshots of my setup in the thread. Perhaps I have something configured incorrectly?
Does anyone have any insight on what to try next? I appreciate anyone's assistance with this as I am about to downgrade my ISP connection as I am unable to utilize the full connection with this setup. I know I could go with a new mesh system, but with the money spent there, I don't want to have to shell out another $1k plus. Thank you!

 

[ColinTaylor]

I think you can eliminate anything WiFi as the cause of your problems as you are testing with a wired connection directly into your primary router. You might want to double-check that by powering off all the node devices just in case there's some bizarre relationship.

I wouldn't necessarily trust the on-router speed test to be accurate. Always verify the results from an Ethernet connected PC.

 

[ThatGuyinNC]

I think you can eliminate anything WiFi as the cause of your problems as you are testing with a wired connection directly into your primary router. You might want to double-check that by powering off all the node devices just in case there's some bizarre relationship.

I wouldn't necessarily trust the on-router speed test to be accurate. Always verify the results from an Ethernet connected PC.

I have used multiple speed tests (although they are online and one ISP owned one) and get about the same results from each (Fast.com; SpeedTest, ATMC Highspeed). I will try turning off the additional nodes to see if that helps with the connection. I feel as though there is some type of bandwidth inhibitor or limiter that is turned on somewhere. It's odd as I did not make any changes prior to the issue surfacing. It was a number of weeks after upgrading to the latest firmware and as I mentioned before, rolling back did not mitigate the issue either. I will reply back with the test with the additional nodes off.

 

[ThatGuyinNC]

I have used multiple speed tests (although they are online and one ISP owned one) and get about the same results from each (Fast.com; SpeedTest, ATMC Highspeed). I will try turning off the additional nodes to see if that helps with the connection. I feel as though there is some type of bandwidth inhibitor or limiter that is turned on somewhere. It's odd as I did not make any changes prior to the issue surfacing. It was a number of weeks after upgrading to the latest firmware and as I mentioned before, rolling back did not mitigate the issue either. I will reply back with the test with the additional nodes off.

I think you can eliminate anything WiFi as the cause of your problems as you are testing with a wired connection directly into your primary router. You might want to double-check that by powering off all the node devices just in case there's some bizarre relationship.

I wouldn't necessarily trust the on-router speed test to be accurate. Always verify the results from an Ethernet connected PC.

I have done the wired ethernet test while all nodes except the router were off and even turned off the router for a while and still am pulling 450 down at 550-650 up. I am at a loss.

 

[Ghostneverdie]

Hi all,

Have been researching this issue for over a week now, as of last friday July 16th, my Asus ZenWifi XT8 system (1 XT8 router, 3 XT8 nodes, wireless backhaul) went from the web GUI stating 900/900 on average down to 450/450. I have reverted back to previous versions of the firmware as this has helped in the past and yet when I do this now, no change. I have QoS, Traffic monitoring, and all possible bandwidth stealers off. I have spoken with my ISP (1GB Fiber connection), they have have come up and connected directly to the Fiber ethernet connection and continuously pull 850-900 down and 800-950 up when connected via the PPoE on the ethernet port via ethernet. As soon as I connect the Asus XT8 router in front of the laptop the speeds drop by half! I have ensured that the WAN is configured correctly with the PPoE connection and had verified with the ISP. I have contacted Asus and they still state they are looking into the issue, but I don't have great faith in that route. I have asked them if I could check if NAT Acceleration had been disabled or if there was some hidden bandwidth limiter on that I can't see with the Web GUI. I have tried multiple configuration changes to the wireless professional settings, I have done complete rebuilds of the system after factor restores, and no matter what I am stuck with roughly half of my speed I was getting prior to July 16th. I have included some screenshots of my setup in the thread. Perhaps I have something configured incorrectly?
Does anyone have any insight on what to try next? I appreciate anyone's assistance with this as I am about to downgrade my ISP connection as I am unable to utilize the full connection with this setup. I know I could go with a new mesh system, but with the money spent there, I don't want to have to shell out another $1k plus. Thank you!View attachment 35169View attachment 35170View attachment 35171View attachment 35172View attachment 35173

This issue is every where except the actual reviews. I wish I knew this before buying. Same issues. My 3 year old wifi extender was doing better than this shirt. I'm in 1GBPS speed too.

 

[RogerSC]

I would try a couple of things. First, revert your firmware to version 42095. Then do a factory reset to defaults on all nodes and reconfigure manually.

Also, disable 160MHz. channel width just for testing...when I had it enabled, using DFS channels actually slowed things down at my home.

One more, don't use "automatic" channel selection on 2.4GHz. band and the 2 5GHz. bands. Pick a channel for each band by looking at a Wi-Fi analyzer. And pick 20MHz. bandwidth on 2.4GHz.

 

[ThatGuyinNC]

This issue is every where except the actual reviews. I wish I knew this before buying. Same issues. My 3 year old wifi extender was doing better than this shirt. I'm in 1GBPS speed too.

Yeah, I'm starting to feel the same way. I have 11 sub-tickets with Asus support on this matter and they just keep saying the same thing over and over; We are looking into this issue to determine any additional troubleshooting that may resolve this issue. They don't seem to care honestly. I think I may jump to the Dark side and get an Orbi to test it out.

 

[ThatGuyinNC]

I would try a couple of things. First, revert your firmware to version 42095. Then do a factory reset to defaults on all nodes and reconfigure manually.

Also, disable 160MHz. channel width just for testing...when I had it enabled, using DFS channels actually slowed things down at my home.

One more, don't use "automatic" channel selection on 2.4GHz. band and the 2 5GHz. bands. Pick a channel for each band by looking at a Wi-Fi analyzer. And pick 20MHz. bandwidth on 2.4GHz.

Thanks RogerSC, I have reverted back to 42095 and factory restored when this occurred on July 16th. I will give it another shot with the 160MHz disabled on my backhaul, although I think the issue is separate from wireless settings. My wireless is almost consistent with the speed that is being passed through the router, it's just that the 1GB signal is only passing through the router at 450 down, when wired. The odd part of this is when I first starting using this system I was experiencing 850-900 up and down wired and getting about 700 up/down over wifi. It was great! Then seemingly overnight, it dropped by half. Now I get about 150-200 down and 350-400 up on wifi. I have asked Asus what could be causing the throttle and they can't even provide a reason.

 

[ThatGuyinNC]

Yeah, I'm starting to feel the same way. I have 11 sub-tickets with Asus support on this matter and they just keep saying the same thing over and over; We are looking into this issue to determine any additional troubleshooting that may resolve this issue. They don't seem to care honestly. I think I may jump to the Dark side and get an Orbi to test it out.

So I pulled the trigger and ordered a Netgear Orbi AX6000. I have to say I was quite excited to get it set up and going...and then suddenly realized how limited that system really is. I was quite shocked that I was not able to separate the 2.4ghz and 5ghz bands. I thought that was a basic wifi-right these days. Unfortunately, this meant some of my devices would not stay connected. I tested the Orbi RBK853 system for about a day and a half and then switched back to my XT8. I couldn't even choose which server to connect to for the speed test inside of the app. I didn't see much speed increase either and half of my devices wouldn't connect due to the Orbi's idea of creating a basic DHCP pool, which I couldn't configure via the app either. Long story short, I pulled out the Orbi and returned it. Even though it is not perfect, I will stick with my Asus XT8. At least with this system, I have a better chance of isolating and mitigating any issue instead of hoping a reset of the router and satellite(s) fix it. Now if Asus could only fix my throttling issue with my fiber connection and release a stable firmware, I'd be a happy man!

 

[Piel]

Now if Asus could only fix my throttling issue with my fiber connection and release a stable firmware, I'd be a happy man!

Same here - but I'm not holding my breath.

 

[Devang Patel]

This issue is every where except the actual reviews. I wish I knew this before buying. Same issues. My 3 year old wifi extender was doing better than this shirt. I'm in 1GBPS speed too.

try the firmware from GNUton. its a fork from Merlin.

asuswrt-merlin.ng

Extends the support of Asus Merlin firmware to more routers

gnuton.github.io

Release 3004.388.8_2-gnuton1 · gnuton/asuswrt-merlin.ng

GNUton's Asus Merlin changelog Date: August 04, 2024 Release: 3004.388.8_2-gnuton1 UPDATED: backported all upstream changes up to 3004.388.8_2 FIXED: fixed cake support to 5.04axhnd 6750 and 6756 ...

github.com

i had issues with my ET8 (slow wifi uploads). flashed this firmware and it fixed it. for the ET8 you need the RT-AXE95Q firmware. for the XT8 you need the RT-AX95Q firmware. flash it from the web interface the same way you would an asus firmware.

now that this firmware is available maybe asus will release one too.

 

[Devang Patel]

Hi all,

Have been researching this issue for over a week now, as of last friday July 16th, my Asus ZenWifi XT8 system (1 XT8 router, 3 XT8 nodes, wireless backhaul) went from the web GUI stating 900/900 on average down to 450/450. I have reverted back to previous versions of the firmware as this has helped in the past and yet when I do this now, no change. I have QoS, Traffic monitoring, and all possible bandwidth stealers off. I have spoken with my ISP (1GB Fiber connection), they have have come up and connected directly to the Fiber ethernet connection and continuously pull 850-900 down and 800-950 up when connected via the PPoE on the ethernet port via ethernet. As soon as I connect the Asus XT8 router in front of the laptop the speeds drop by half! I have ensured that the WAN is configured correctly with the PPoE connection and had verified with the ISP. I have contacted Asus and they still state they are looking into the issue, but I don't have great faith in that route. I have asked them if I could check if NAT Acceleration had been disabled or if there was some hidden bandwidth limiter on that I can't see with the Web GUI. I have tried multiple configuration changes to the wireless professional settings, I have done complete rebuilds of the system after factor restores, and no matter what I am stuck with roughly half of my speed I was getting prior to July 16th. I have included some screenshots of my setup in the thread. Perhaps I have something configured incorrectly?
Does anyone have any insight on what to try next? I appreciate anyone's assistance with this as I am about to downgrade my ISP connection as I am unable to utilize the full connection with this setup. I know I could go with a new mesh system, but with the money spent there, I don't want to have to shell out another $1k plus. Thank you!View attachment 35169View attachment 35170View attachment 35171View attachment 35172View attachment 35173

try the firmware from GNUton. its a fork from Merlin.

asuswrt-merlin.ng

Extends the support of Asus Merlin firmware to more routers

gnuton.github.io

Release 3004.388.8_2-gnuton1 · gnuton/asuswrt-merlin.ng

GNUton's Asus Merlin changelog Date: August 04, 2024 Release: 3004.388.8_2-gnuton1 UPDATED: backported all upstream changes up to 3004.388.8_2 FIXED: fixed cake support to 5.04axhnd 6750 and 6756 ...

github.com

i had issues with my ET8 (slow wifi uploads). flashed this firmware and it fixed it. for the ET8 you need the RT-AXE95Q firmware. for the XT8 you need the RT-AX95Q firmware. flash it from the web interface the same way you would an asus firmware.

now that this firmware is available maybe asus will release one too.